Vigils were held at universities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in remembrance of the 14 women shot and killed at Montreal’s École Polytechnique in 1989 in an anti-feminist attack.
All these years later, the vigils also highlighted why violence against women is an ongoing problem.
The date of the Montreal Massacre, Dec. 6, marks the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
“This is an important day for folks in our sector, folks who are passionate about gender-based violence, folks who have been impacted by gender-based violence to come together and remember not only what happened 36 years ago, but the ways that gender-based violence continues today and is embedded within the fabric of our social institutions,” said Sarah Rodimon, the executive director of the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre in Halifax.
Rodimon, who attended a vigil at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, said gender-based violence is a particularly important conversation in Nova Scotia because the province has high rates of intimate partner violence.
Nova Scotia adopted a bill in September 2024 that declared intimate partner violence an epidemic.
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“(It) is crucial that our politicians continue to take gender-based violence seriously, continue to support the crucial work of gender-based violence organizations on the front lines who are not only supporting survivors, but preventing gender-based violence before it occurs,” she said.
“It’s not only life-affirming, it’s also life-saving.”
For gender and women’s studies master’s student Sam Le Nobel, it was important as a student to reflect and remember what happened in 1989.
“It’s really important that we keep having these hard conversations, as difficult as they can be. The only way change is going to happen is if we do something about it,” she said.
At the Université de Moncton in New Brunswick, photos of the victims were on display in the engineering department, and roses were laid at a monument dedicated to them.
“I think all these years later, we still need to remember those 14 women because feminicides are still happening,” said Kim Dubé, the president of the university’s women and gender equality committee
“There’s a lot of violence against women.”
Dubé, who is a criminologist, said misogynistic rhetoric is being normalized online and she believes it needs to be taken more seriously.
“And so we need to double our efforts to end that hate right now and continue fighting to eliminate violence,” she said.
Engineering student Hyba Zouhri said remembering the tragedy is important because misogyny and sexism are still very real issues for women in her field.
She pointed out that women are still in the minority in her faculty and she often feels like she needs to work harder to be taken seriously.
“It’s really important to recognize that (the massacre) happened, that it tells us something about society,” she said.
“It’s not just in the past, it’s still relevant today and it’s still a subject that we have to talk about.”
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